Unit 1 Scientific Method: Day 17 - Writing a Great Hypothesis

BIG IDEA - What?

A great hypothesis is not always correct. A great hypothesis is based

on evidence and includes your reasoning.

Review - What a Hypothesis Needs:

Prior Knowledge                              Observations                                    Research

How to Make a Hypothesis:

·      Identify your variables

·      Ask yourself, “What will I do to the independent variable?”

·      Ask yourself, “What will happen to the dependent variable?”

·      Write why you think this will happen (“because”).

 Let's Try as a Class

Mr. Miller is testing whether construction paper or copy paper airplanes fly further. His question is, “How does the type of paper affect how far a paper airplane flies?” After making observations about the two types of airplanes, he makes a hypothesis.

Variables:
IV: _________________________________                       DV: __________________________________________

Hypothesis:

If I _______________________________________________ then ____________________________

_________________________ because __________________________________________.

1. Complete the "Now You Try on Your Own" on your CW:

Darnell is experimenting with sodas to decide which one is the healthiest. He gives his rats three different sodas: Coke, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite. He then measures which group of rats has gained the least weight.

·      Identify variables

IV: ______________________________________________             
DV: ________________________________

·      Ask yourself, what will I do to the independent variable?”

If _____________________________________________________________________________(IV)

·      Ask yourself, what will happen to the dependent variable?”

Then _____________________________________________________________________________(DV)

Because _______________________________________________________________________________

2. Watch the Brainpop Video below entitled "Scientific Method".

Click here to Watch

3. Next, go to Socrative and complete the questions.

Scroll down and look for the student room entry, enter the room name: courage

Click here to goto Socrative

4. If you have extra time play the review games below on the scientific method and mean, median, and mode.

Click here to play

Click here to play 

 Hypotheses Lifework

Part I: Identify which hypotheses are testable and correctly written. Write “T” for testable and “NT” for not testable.

_____1) If I test two different types of cold medicine, Tylenol will be the best.

_____2) Cats are scared more easily than dogs.

_____3) If I give different amounts of sunlight to plants, then the plant with the most sunlight will grow the tallest.

_____4) If I test students with different shoe sizes, then I will measure how high they jump.

_____5) If I test students with different shoe sizes, the ones with larger shoe sizes will jump higher.

Part II: Read about the experiment below. Then, write a hypothesis.

Joseph notices that some batteries like Energizer cost a whole lot, but some are very cheap.  To figure out which is better, he plans a test. He buys Energizer batteries and Wal-Mart brand batteries. He puts both in a flashlight, then measures how long each one lasts. (Hint: his testable question is “Does the brand of battery affect how long it lasts?”)

·      Identify variables

IV: ______________________________________________                 DV: ________________________________

·      Ask yourself,  what will I do to the independent variable?”

If _____________________________________________________________________________________

·      Ask yourself, what will happen to the dependent variable?”

Then __________________________________________________________________________________

·      Why?

Because _______________________________________________________________________________